John Kushner
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office
March 26, 1975 – 1979
Preceded byAlbert Ludwig
Succeeded byStan Kushner
ConstituencyCalgary-Mountain View
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Calgary East
In office
May 22, 1979 – March 2, 1984
Preceded byDouglas Harkness (old district)
Succeeded byAlex Kindy
Personal details
Born(1923-06-22)June 22, 1923
Poland
DiedMarch 2, 1984(1984-03-02) (aged 60)
Political partyProgressive Conservative (Alberta)
Progressive Conservative (federal)
Occupationsecurity officer, politician

John Kushner (June 22, 1923 – March 2, 1984) was a Canadian federal and provincial level politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1975 to 1979 and then served as a Member of Parliament from 1979 until his death in 1984. He sat with the Progressive Conservative caucus on both the provincial and federal level.

Early life

John Kushner was born in Poland on June 22, 1923. Prior to his political career he worked as a security officer.

Afgter coming to Alberta he got a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). He rose through the ranks of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen to the presidency of the local.

As well, he was president of the Calgary Labour Council in the 1960s.

Kushner was very active with many local organizations and served on the board of the Metro Calgary and Rural General Hospital District No. 93, 1969-1974.

Family life

He and his wife, Olga Komix, 1928-2014, had two sons, Jack and Stan.

Stan was elected MLA for Calgary Mountainview after John stepped down in 1978 to enter federal politics.

Political career

He was a Calgary alderman for Ward 5 from 1965 to 1967, and again from 1968 to 1974.

He was also a Public School Trustee, 1971-1974.

Kushner ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature for the first time in the 1971 Alberta general election. He ran as a Progressive Conservative in the new electoral district of Calgary-McCall candidate and finished in second place out of four candidates losing to Social Credit candidate George Ho Lem.[1]

Kushner made a second attempt to run for provincial office, this time running in the electoral district of Calgary-Mountain View in the 1975 Alberta general election. He defeated long time Social Credit incumbent Albert Ludwig and three other candidates in a hotly contested race to pick up the seat for the governing Progressive Conservative party.[2]

Kushner served one term in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta before jumping to federal politics. He ran for a seat to the House of Commons of Canada in the federal electoral district of Calgary East in the 1979 Canadian federal election. He faced off against Ludwig who ran as a candidate for the federal Liberals and future Alberta MLA Barry Pashak and four other candidates. He won the district by a near landslide taking over 60% of the popular vote to pick up the new seat for the federal Progressive Conservatives.[3]

The minority government of Premier Joe Clark fell less than a year later. This forced the 1980 federal election to take place. Kushner ran against Ludwig and Pashak in a virtual rerun of the 1979 race. His margin of victory dropped by almost 10% but he still won the district by a wide margin defeating the seven other candidates in the race.[4]

Kushner died late into his term on March 2, 1984.

See also

"John Kushner" in Scoundrels and Scallywags : Characters from Alberta's Past / Brian Brennan. -- Calgary : Fifth House, 2002. p. 170-174

Kushner fonds at Glenbow Archives Call Numbers: M-7644, PA-2974, PB-727, PD-242

References

  1. ↑ "Calgary-McCall results 1971". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  2. ↑ "Calgary-Mountain View results 1975". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  3. ↑ "Calgary East election results". Parliament of Canada. 22 May 1979. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "Calgary East results". Parliament of Canada. 18 February 1980. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
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